"Oh, 100 percent, I'd absolutely tell her not to," she said. "I would 150 million trillion percent be totally discouraging of [her] doing anything like that."

"Teenage years should be done privately," she continued. "You should be going out and getting unbelievably drunk, getting into ridiculous situations, making mistakes. That’s what that time of life is about and we should do that privately, one million trillion zillion percent."

Knightley, who appeared in 1999's Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace at the age of 14, went on to reflect on her own experience with scrutiny during her formative years. "I don’t regret it – I wouldn’t do my life any differently, but having lived through it… There was a very long time when [interviewers] were all, 'Well you’re a s–t actress and you’re anorexic and people hate you' which, for a teenager or somebody in their early 20s, is a very strange thing."

Despite the harsh words, Knightley has continued on and filled her resume with copious films. This year she counts credits for various projects, including Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit with Chris Pine and Kevin Costner, the upcoming Begin Again with Adam Levine, Mark Ruffalo, and Hailee Steinfeld, and the fall drama Laggies, with Chloé Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell. Her personal life has been active as well, as she was married last May to British musician James Righton.

The busy actress stuns on the Elle cover, accompanied by the lines, "The Secret Life of Keira Knightley." With her shoulder-length brunette locks wavy and down, Knightley wears a pale pink collared dress with buttons from Gucci's Fall 2014 collection in the shot. Inside the issue, she models pieces by Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, and Dolce & Gabbana.